ART THERAPY PROMOTES HEALTHY EXPRESSION ON THE LAKE
Written by Volunteer Pei Ming Teoh Jernberg
My mission was to help children and adults through art activities as part of a mental health project. Many of the children had never drawn, painted, or made artwork before. We also did home visits. I remember the first child clearly—a 12-year-old boy. According to his mother, they had communication problems. He liked to follow older friends who had a bad influence on him, and his mother was very worried. We tried to help the boy release his feelings through drawing, because he felt shy about talking directly about his emotions and problems. We guided him to use colors to express himself. He used red to show his anger and explained why he felt angry. He used green to express his desire for more freedom, and yellow for other feelings. Watching him gradually open up—from refusing to share his inner world to slowly expressing his thoughts and trying to communicate with his mother—was a very interesting process for us to witness and experience.
We also visited a young woman who was around 20 years old. She could not speak clearly, and both her gross motor skills and fine motor skills had difficulty functioning well. We used the collage method to help her. We showed her different kinds of pictures from old magazines and asked her about her dreams. First, she pointed to a picture of some girls cycling together, and then to a girl wearing a beautiful dress and makeup. We helped her place those pictures onto a piece of cardboard to create a collage. From the images she chose, we understood that she missed spending time with her friends. Like many young women in their twenties, she also wanted to look beautiful and attractive. We then encouraged her to draw on paper using colors. She tried very hard, struggling to draw every single line. When she saw the final result, a happy and satisfied smile appeared on her face. She felt proud when she realized she could do it. After learning about her dreams, Dr. Rida brought her a lipstick and a blouse, and she was delighted to look into the mirror and see the change in herself. According to Dr. Rida, during a later home visit, the collage and drawings were still hanging on the wall of her bedroom.
We also brought some mirrors to the school and encouraged the children to draw self-portraits. Many of them had never seen themselves in a mirror before. Some found it funny, some thought it was interesting, some were curious, and some were even shocked. When we saw the drawings they created, they were the most authentic artworks they had ever made. I absolutely loved that. The idea behind this process was to guide them to see themselves and to accept who they are. We also organized a mini art exhibition for the school children by gathering all their artworks and paintings. Unfortunately, the school was closed on the day we set up the exhibition. However, the children saw it the next day when they returned to school, after TLC had already left the riverside. It was certainly a very positive surprise for them to see their own creations displayed. They were happy, and we were happy too.
